DAMASCUS (AFP) -- Syria has scrapped visa requirements for Turkish visitors and Ankara is to follow suit, the state-run SANA news agency said on Sunday.

The interior ministry has scrapped visa requirements for Turkish passport holders who wish to visit Syria for not more than 90 days, SANA said.
Turkey is also expected to exempt Syrians from visa requirements soon, it said, in line with an agreement struck by the foreign ministers of the two countries last week.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem announced on September 16 the decision to scrap visas amid efforts to ‘maximize integration’ in economic matters.
Turkish-Syrian relations have improved in recent years, after decades of mistrust based on Ankara’s accusations that Damascus gave support to Turkey’s banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Ties have also been strained over the sharing of waters from the Euphrates river that takes its source in Turkey and flows through Syria and on to Iraq.
Turkey acted as an intermediary last year in indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel, and last week it hosted a meeting between Syrian and Iraqi officials in a bid to ease tensions between the two Arab neighbors.